Boldly…boldly I say, we press on further into what the Bible has to say about the “One Anothers.” The way we treat each other is critical for any believer, but even more so for a new church. Which is kinda why we are spending so much time going over them all! Let’s look at this week’s ‘nothers –
- Be submissive to one another. …“submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21 ESV)
- People can get a little squirrelly when we talk about submission. This is not like an overbearing, harsh, insensitive lording over someone – instead it is a voluntary yielding in love. It is mutual submission, so that we aren’t just doing what we only want to do. It is reflected in our marriages, our parenting, our jobs, our submission to authorities…and perhaps most pertinently here – in new churches. Let’s face it, we will have things in our new church that we will need to submit. It may not be the way we want it, but we submit to what will be best for the gospel and for others. We do this because by walking in mutual submission to one another we demonstrate an intentionality in how we live a life as a disciple of Jesus.
- Regard one another. “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3 ESV).
- The great CS Lewis wrote that “true humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” (If you haven’t read Mere Christianity yet…please stop reading this blog and go read it!). This ties right in with being submissive to one another. We do so because we regard each other, we consider others as more significant than yourselves. I’m sure we can all recall painfully during our teen years when our parents may have said “You know…it’s not all about YOU.” (Or did that just happen to me?) How does this play out in HBC? We will have a lot of things to talk through in the coming months – What time will our service be? Who will host small groups? Who will help in kids ministries? Who will change poopy diapers?!. See where I’m going with this. It’s also easy to tie this back to the gospel because further on in Chapter 2 of Philippians Paul does that for us: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5–8 ESV)
- Love one another. “and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,” (1 Thessalonians 3:12 ESV).
- I’ll bet this is one of the first one anothers you thought about right? This seems basic and simple. Yet, in reality, not so simple to do. This is the famous “agape” love – the quality of warm regard for and interest in each other – esteem, affection, regard, and love. It’s not love with an agenda or conditions. At HBC there should be a visible affection for each other that people in the community can see, it should be infectious to others. After all – love is what drives the whole bus – a love for God and compassionate love for others is what drives church planting to begin with! We also remember that God is the very definition of love, and it is primarily expressed in His sending His Son, Jesus. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10 ESV)
- Comfort one another. “Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:18 ESV)
- The Greek word here is closer to “comfort” than “encourage” which is why if you have an NASB or rollin’ old school with the Thees and Thous in a KJV it says “comfort.” The context of this passage is that death is not the end for believers, and the Lord Jesus will return to redeem those who are His. The message is one of hope and comfort in the reality of who Jesus is and our future in Him. We shouldn’t be indifferent to the suffering of others. Just this week, we lost a good friend and church member. We should comfort the family with the comfort of Jesus. When we see tragedy in our community, we should seek to bring the comfort of Jesus. Our faith in Jesus, and who we are in Him, has everything to do with our situation, it changes any circumstance into one of hope. Ultimately, we know this is the end of the big story of Scripture – Jesus will return. Death will not have the last word. He will restore all things – but there is much work to be done before then!
- Encourage and build one another up. “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV).
- This is the same Greek word as the last one, but this shade of meaning is more towards encouragement – we see that in “build one another up.” Here again, the context is the end times – and we specifically encourage one another to live a life worthy of the calling of Jesus – to flee sin. To be awake and sober (v6) to belong to the day (v8) and not the night (v7) – we encourage one another, in the urgency of the times, to avoid the entrapments of sin. What does this look like at HBC? We should be engaged in careless living, but rather intentional living. We should be aware that there is always sin growing on the walls of our hearts, we need to confess and repent and grow. Scrape off the sin and demonstrate humble holiness. What is the hope? Well, it’s the Holy Spirit Himself, he lives inside all believers (not just those who speak in tongues) and he is our chief encourager in life and godliness.
Would you join us in praying for the work of God at Highlands Bible Church? Here are some things to pray for:
- For more people to commit to the work of launching the church.
- For God to draw people to himself and use HBC for the gospel.
- For the funding to come in.
- For the GPBC Search Team in looking for Pastor Mike’s replacement at the GP Campus.
- For opportunities to share the hope of the gospel and spread the word about HBC.
- Let’s remember to THANK God for his goodness thus far in the work of setting up HBC!
Our next Highlands Team meeting is Friday, September 11th at 7pm. Join us!
